The Siberian Incident 2

by Andrew Gille

Scott struggled with loading a magazine into his M4.

  "We're gonna die," Maddock said calmly, "Just go in peace, Scott."

  "Ever see Die Hard Maddock?" Scott asked as his magazine finally clicked into place.

  "Yeah, why?" Maddock asked, thinking it was a stupid last question as he watched the yetis approach. Their fangs were dripping saliva, and their heads were cocked, a look of smug satisfaction on their faces.

  "Shoot the glass," Scott said as he grabbed the Savage 99 hanging on Maddock's side. He pumped the lever-action and fired a quick succession of two bullets into the corner of the cage of one of the yetis still trapped in the transparent cell. He then swung the gun to his left and shot the opposing cage. The glass shattered from both enclosures. The sound made the approaching yetis pause and turn their heads just in time to see the glass bits fall and reveal the furred creatures standing behind the crystalline shards.

  The two stepped out of their cages and stood in front of Scott and Maddock. Maddock's eyes darted around the room, he backed up into the corner in an attempt to retreat from the gigantic monsters standing with their backs to him. As he pressed his head against the wall, a shocking boom pushed his head off the wall. He had backed into the glass of one of the smilodon's cages, and the beast had attempted to bite off his head through the glass.

  "It's fine Maddock, they'll protect us," Scott whispered to his terrified uncle.

  The four beasts sized each other up, and then the two who Scott had released tore into their counterparts. They slammed the slightly smaller creatures into the walls and tore at each other's bodies with their sharp claws.

  Maddock and Scott crouched in the corner as the gigantic monsters snarled and roared. They grabbed onto each other and slammed each other into the walls so hard that the precast cement cracked and dust came down from the ceiling.

  The sound of gunfire once again echoed through the building. Colin's troops had reached the door and began to fire at the yetis who were now attempting to help Scott and Maddock. Scott and Maddock fired back. The soldiers fired from behind the cover of the door and hit the beasts fighting for the two men. The yetis seemed only irritated by the pain of the impacting bullets.

  Bullets zinged about the room with increasing frequency. Almost all at once, several hit the remaining cages. Now, the saber-toothed tigers leaped from their cages. One sinking its long fangs into the hide of Colin's yeti wearing the green control collar and the other accosting one of the yetis friendly to Colin and Scott. The friendly yeti tossed it off like it was an annoying insect, it tumbled and rolled out the door. Scott could hear the screams of several of Colin's men and full automatic gunfire coming from the other room as the bullets stopped pouring in.

  One of the Snow Yetis approached Scott and picked him up. The second approached Maddock as the free Magadan yeti attempted to pull the saber-toothed tiger from its companion's back. The second Snow Yeti approached Maddock, who cringed, pointing his weapon at the beast.

  "Let him take you!" Scott said, cradled in the arms of the first yeti.

  The muzzle of Maddock's weapon was lowered, and the yeti took him into his arms. Both of the creatures ran out of the room with the cages and into the garage.

  Blood and body parts were everywhere. A group of men stood around a dead saber-toothed tiger. They looked up, too shocked to raise their guns as the yetis ran past carrying Scott and Maddock.

  Scott's eyes locked onto the man standing in the center, wearing a green parka. He could see that the man recognized him. Colin Crossfield tracked him as the yeti ran off into the thick forest carrying Scott and Maddock cradled in their arms like toddlers.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The Delivery

  "I HAD CONTACT with them at 15 minutes ago, they'll be at the rendezvous point in less than an hour after you go wheels up, I need you to get off the ground now. Your time to the extraction zone has got to be precise. They are in a lot of danger flying those balloons."

  Agent Magdalena spoke from a board room in Columbus, Ohio. The board room had transformed into a command post for a military operation. Displayed on projected screens were maps and tactical data indicating the position of their asset, Scott Brockman, in Eastern Russia.

  "Who is this pilot you're speaking to? Is he good enough for this mission?" A man named Collins from the NSA, wearing a suit asked, he'd been doubting her decisions all day and was beginning to get on her nerves.

  Magdalena ran her hand through her medium length blonde hair and exhaled before she spoke. She didn't want to address this condescending jerk as a 'motherfucker,' which was the word screaming in her mind right now.

  "Agent Collins, this pilot, codenamed Red Garrett, has over 14,000 hours and 2,000 hours in type. He also has the most experience of any pilot we have with the Fulton surface to air recovery system. He's going to need to pull off three extractions at once and not kill any of these guys. He'll get there, right now we just have an issue with Russian customs."

  "Tell him to dump the vodka!" Another man named Fredrick from the CIA now suggested. Neither of these idiots had the slightest clue about how carefully this mission had been planned.

  "Agent Fredrick, it would be pretty suspicious for Red Garrett to leave the cargo he is ostensibly in Russia to deliver for our import/export company. We'd blow the cover of Edrick Imports and jeopardize at least half a dozen other missions."

  She nearly rolled her eyes at the stupidity of these two representatives of some of the most critical intelligence agencies in The United States. The two sat back in their seats, pouting at her as she attempted to communicate with Red Garrett over his comms.

  "Ok, clearance granted, I'm taxiing out to runway 07 left," Red Garrett replied, over the Polycom in the boardroom.

  "There, I told you he'd be on time," Sandy said, relieved to hear that his flight was now leaving.

  "What about your assets in Eastern Russia, have you had contact with them?" Colins asked.

  "You've been sitting here, our comms are down with them. We suspect that Colin Crossfield is employing jamming devices near his facility. The facility appears to be on some kind of alert."

  "This agent, um…" Fredrick seemed to have forgotten Scott's name.

  "Brockman," Sandy finished his sentence for him.

  "Yes, Brockman and this mercenary, the guy…is his name Brockman too?"

  "No, they are related, but his name is Brubeck," Sandy said, flatly wondering what the hell Fredrick was getting at.

  "These two, we seem to have lost them, could we just send in another team to extract our objective?"

  "You told me I could not get another team authorized for this op," Sandy said, gritting her teeth. "This is why we put an inexperienced agent and his uncle on the ground here. Are they expendable? Yeah, I suppose but do we just want to let them die? I have been over this before with your organizations and this agent, we send him to the worst places and you guys just want to let him die. Why do you have it out for this kid? No, we're going to bring him back home alive."

  "I'm looking at this Maddock Brubeck's file, it says he's 62 years old? Why did we send such an old contractor? I don't see special qualifications for Russia other than the fact that he fought the Cold War," Collins now chimed in.

  "I told you, this mission isn't even supposed to happen. This is an unacknowledged mission, I barely got funding for it the way it is. It was a special operation that Agent Brockman and I worked to get approval through back channels. We could not send an actual Spec Ops team on this mission. For reasons I can't even tell either of you, Brubeck is specially qualified for this mission no matter what your file on him says. I could not get approval for satellite comms on this mission. A two-man Delta team planted radio receivers and other important equipment last week. I am probably going to be reprimanded for authorizing that mission," Sandy said her face becoming red with rage at the two, staring slack-jawed at her.

  "Special equipment? Like an owl," Fredrick scoffed.

  "Yeah, like an owl that
took out two security drones," Sandy said.

  "Well, it's your job if this doesn't go well, Agent. You haven't technically done anything illegal here, but if these two are found out or captured, you're going to be in some deep shit. You'd better hope these two expendables are either successful or dead at the end of this mission."

  "They're going to make it," Sandy said, her jaw clenched.

  This was the third time some sneering bureaucrat in a suit stared at her and suggested that she let Scott Brubeck die. When this mission was complete, she expected to be promoted, and these two boobs would be the first to get fired. They were always asking if the men and women she sent on these missions were expendable. They'd see how expendable they were when she cut them out of the 2021 budget and replaced them with the men and women they wanted to abandon.

  "Alright, well we're going to go get some dinner, we'll be back in 90 minutes an I would expect your pilot would be ready to extract our people." Collins said as he stood from the table.

  "He will be," Agent Magdalena replied, watching them walk out of the room.

  She quickly depressed a switch as she spoke over the Polycom.

  "Ladyhawk 1 to Badger 4, are you there? Ladyhawk 1 to Badger 4, Garrett is on his way, confirm you are en route to the extraction point."

  Her words were met with only silence. She stared at the map projected on the board room wall. Where were Scott and Maddock? She was beginning to worry.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The Mother Goddess

  NESTLED WITHIN THE arms of the massive yeti was strangely comforting and warm. Maddock watched the trees rush by as the lungs of the beast drew in colossal sums of air as it ran through the forest with him against its chest.

  They came to a river, and the yetis who carried them began to run along the shore. In minutes they encountered the entrance to a cave. The yetis, put down the two men and motioned for them to come into the cave behind them.

  “We really need to get to the extraction point, Scott,” Maddock said as the yetis continued to motion for them to come into the cave.

  “Well, these guys essentially saved our lives, and getting out of this wind for a few minutes isn’t going to hurt us,” Scott said as he began walking into the cave.

  Maddock followed, and half-whispered, “We don’t have a few minutes, probably an hour has gone by since she told you to be at the extraction zone.”

  “We still have two hours. It will be fine,” Scott said, continuing to follow the yetis.

  Maddock could smell smoke from a campfire as he entered the cave. However, the interior of the cave was warm, and the air was breathable. Somehow whatever was burning was being vented. He continued to follow the yetis down into the cave. Maddock’s skis still attached to his backpack, scraped the top of the cave. He and Scott left their skis at the end of a tightening corridor through which the yetis barely fit.

  It opened up into a large area where a fire burned. Yetis who looked much like the ones who had rescued them stood around the fire-wielding massive spears with shafts as large as stair railings. They lowered their heads as the two walked in.

  Seated behind the fire was a female yeti, two other younger looking females sat behind her. In seeing them, it was clear that Maddock and Scott had not encountered females of the species previously. They had distinctly female features, pronounced breasts and appeared larger and broader than their male counterparts. The yeti seated at the fire stood. She was clearly pregnant, and the two yetis who entered went to their knees when she stood. His white fur was clean and seemed to have been brushed. She wore a necklace of fangs from some unknown animal. Over her shoulders was the skin of a large cat with the distinctive tiger-like striping that looked similar to the saber-toothed tiger they’d killed the day before.

  Maddock looked at Scott, and they too got to their knees before the pregnant yeti woman. The two who brought them here treated this female with reverence and respect. There was a seriousness to their devotion to this female that went beyond what Maddock or Scott had seen previously from the creatures.

  “It’s their queen,” Scott said, turning his head to Maddock.

  “Right, are we about to be sacrificed?”

  “No, these things love us, remember? Would you kill two puppies your brothers brought home?” Scott whispered.

  “I hope you’re right, and we’re like puppies, not like rats,” Maddock answered.

  The yetis made a droning noise, which culminated in some breathy exhalations and then said something in unison that sounded like, “Ha!”

  Two more female yetis approached the ones who had brought Maddock and Scott to this place. They handed these yetis spears and then returned to their position around the fire.

  The pregnant female seemed to be pleased that the two had returned. The two males closed their eyes as all three touched them on the foreheads. There was a sense that it was an honor for the queen to be recognizing them like this. She was clearly highly esteemed in their culture, and the two females behind her were equally revered. The female in the center grunted, and the two behind her produced a wooden drinking vessel, which was a long hollow branch. They then took meat that hung over a fire and brought it to the two yetis who bowed before them.

  They placed the items down in front of the two that had carried them to this cave, and only then did the two males get up from their prostrated position. They took the drinking vessels and meat and turned around. They walked toward Maddock and Scott and then offered them the drink and meat. Maddock and Scott took the gifts. The yetis then sat and made a motion to Scott and Maddock to sit.

  Maddock looked at his nephew, and the two obliged, sitting before the fire they felt the warmth of the flames and Maddock pulled back the hood of his parka. He looked over the fire. The queen continued looking at him with strangely human eyes. Her expression was one of adoration like a first-time mother would look at a newborn baby.

  The two females that Maddock surmised were princesses brought drink and food to the seated males and then returned to the side of the queen. They then produced drinks and meat for the queen and themselves. Then they sat at the fire. The seven of them then bowed. Other yetis watched in the darkness of the cave. Some clamored to get a better position, and others huddled, seemingly in awe of what was happening. Scott was beginning to think it was a type of ceremony, perhaps to welcome the lost members of the tribe back, perhaps to reward them for bringing the human guests. He could not tell, but it was clear that the two who had brought them were being held in a place of high esteem to dine with the queen in this fashion.

  Scott and Maddock attempted to follow their movements. As the yetis sat up, they inhaled deeply and then began droning again before punctuating the sounds they made with a loud “Ha!”

  Maddock made the same noise and looked at the queen, she smiled broadly at him and then all began to rip the flesh from the charred bones they held in their hands and drink from the wooden branch vessels.

  Scott looked at Maddock, “What is this?” He asked, looking into the hollowed wooden branch.

  “Some kind of mead or wine, I think,” Maddock guessed, he took a small sip of the beverage, “It actually tastes pretty good. I think this is a pretty big honor. Even if it makes us blind, we should probably oblige.”

  Scott tipped back the wooden vessel and poured a large swallow of the amber liquid into his mouth. The sweetness of alcohol was combined with a strangely familiar flavor. The beverage was weakly carbonated, producing a slight bite on the back of Scott’s throat.

  “I think this is some kind of maple wine,” he said, detecting the smell of syrup in the aftertaste of the brew.

  “I think you’re right, it isn’t bad, wish I could say the same for this meat,” Maddock said as he chewed the hunk of meat he’d bitten off the bone they’d handed him.

  Scott took a bite of the meat and attempted to identify the flavor as he chewed. He made a face that Maddock realized was that of someone not exactly enjoying their food.

/>   “I think I know what this is,” Scott whispered.

  “Don’t tell me it is the last two pet humans they had in here?” Maddock guessed.

  “Nope, it’s cat. Big cat. I think this is smilodon,” Scott said after swallowing.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Maddock said as he reluctantly swallowed the meat he had been chewing.

  “Better than those Russian MREs we ate yesterday,” Scott said.

  Maddock bit off another chunk and chewed it.

  “Better than some of the stuff I’ve eaten,” Maddock replied.

  Maddock took another drink from the long wooden mug.

  “Look, Scott,” he said, “This is great, and I love being the yetis guest of honor, but we need to get to that extraction zone, by my count we have about three hours left.”

  “Yeah, I know. Do you want to be rude to the queen?” Scott whispered.

  “No, but why don’t we just excuse ourselves?” Maddock suggested.

  “I don’t think that is appropriate. We still have plenty of time to get to the extraction zone,” Scott whispered through chewing the cat meat.

  Then the queen grunted again, and a figure emerged from the shadows. It was another yeti, who walked up to the fire. He took a branch of wood from the fire and held it aloft like a torch. He then went to a corner of the cave and illuminated a cave painting with the light. The picture showed stars and a moon, it appeared to be the constellation of Ursa Major. He then pointed to the queen. Carrying the torch, he lumbered over to another cave painting. It was a drawing of a pregnant figure, he again pointed to the queen. Moving to another picture, he showed food, drink, and people, human-looking people.

  Scott nodded, Maddock looked at him with a quizzical expression.

  “What’s going on here?” Maddock questioned.

  “They are telling us about their religion. This isn’t the queen, this is the Mother Goddess, she was sent to the last Mother Goddess who birthed her, from the constellation of Ursa Major, maybe from Polaris. Like the food and drink that the females provide, we are gifts from the mother goddess,” Scott said, believing he understood the glyphs.